


Rotten to the Core

by orphan_account



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Character Development, Fluff, Humor, Mental Development, Multi, No Smut, Sans is the older brother, Young Papyrus, an odd affair with grillby, awkward sibling relationships, gaster gets scary, gaster is a hard ass, hopefully some humor, includes gaster, papyrus is still growing up, pre frisk, sans origins, sans works with gaster, siblings relationship - Freeform, third person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-14 20:56:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5758555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans' life should be great right now. He's got a good job at the royal lab, it pays well. He can afford to keep his little brother happy, and they get to live comfortably. For the first time in his life, Sans finds someone he loves. But things aren't what they should be. </p>
<p>His relationship with Grillby is strained and Sans has to pretend Papyrus isn't the reason for that, while the core project starts a downhill spiral threatening both his work life and home life. The closer the project gets to completion, the farther away Papyrus seems to be and the closer Royal Scientist Gaster gets to becoming unhinged.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking some time off social media and most of the internet- so I've been spending a lot more time writing. Good things have happened because of that.

Sans thought there was time. Later, when Grillby would ask why Sans could be so careless, he would reply that his little brother usually didn’t get home till three-thirty. What he didn’t account for was that it was Wednesday. School got out early on Wednesdays. 

 

It was the most uncomfortable thing in Sans life when Pap walked in when Sans’ pants were halfway to the floor and a fiery hand was slipping into his underwear. Grillby was already shirtless.

 

The door opened with a ferocity that could only mean Papyrus with a surprised cry that could only confirm it. “BROTHER I- SANS? I. I.” 

 

Sans jumped so hard he almost knocked Grillby over- he would apologize for that later, for all this later- and rushed to bring his pants up. Cold flooded in. Papyrus was yet to close the door. “Pap I, I, uhh-”

 

“SANS WHY, WHY ARE YOU- MR. GRILLBY WHERE DID YOUR SHIRT GO?”

 

He grabbed onto Grillby to keep himself from falling over. The other man was hot. Of course he was, in more ways than one, but right now he was admitting extra heat and that told Sans he was probably thoroughly pissed. “Pap  _ please  _ give us a minute-”

 

Papyrus spoke quieter now, almost at an inside voice but not quite.“You- you said if anyone touched me there to run away?”

 

“This is  _ different.” _ Sans’ face was bluer than the echo flowers when he nearly buckled over. This was not something he wanted his incredibly naive 12 year old brother to walk in on, and this is not something he wanted to happen the very first time Grillby came over.  

 

Papyrus finally took a few more steps in and shut the door, but he looked like he might turn around and run.

 

Grillby finished facepalming and picked up his button down from the ground. he started putting it on casually, like he was too good to be embarrassed. He looked at Pap with mixed expressions, none necessarily malicious but Sans still didn’t like anyone looking at his brother like that. “I thought you said he wouldn’t be home for another hour and a half, Sans.”

 

“Yes, I thought that too-”

 

“Brother, I’m going UPSTAIRS.” The younger skeleton announced from the doorway. He dropped his school backpack right there and practically vaulted up the stairs. He was getting tall now. He could do that.

 

Grillby turned to his partner again and straightened his glasses. “I feel like you have things to deal with right now. I assume we’ll talk later?” Grillby generally only had one tone to say anything but right now it sounded harsh in Sans’ ears.

 

He stuck his hands in his pocket and directed his pinprick eyes anywhere but the other man’s face. “Yeah. Yeah, no, I’m sorry about this. I’ll be over later, okay?”

 

Grillby let out a grunt and was out the door, leaving without another look.

 

Well. Sans plopped himself down on the couch for a single second and thought to himself just how much he fucked everything up. 

...

_ Sometimes Gaster was a hard ass that liked to just piss everyone off in the lab and make everyone miserable. When that happened, his number one assistant had to take the brunt of it and try and lessen it for the others.  _

 

_ Sans was getting real fed up with Gaster’s shit. The core was stressful on everyone in the lab, Gaster didn’t need to make it worse. He was pushing deadlines too much. He pushed it any further they would have to drop a few standard performance checks. Those usually didn’t reveal anything important but Sans would hate for this to be the time it would’ve. _

 

_ Someone set another helping of fries in front of him. He looked up to see the bartender shrug. “It’s on the house. You look like you could use it.” _

 

_ “Thanks Grillby.” _

 

_ “No jokes today?” _

 

_ “What do you call a... you know what? Nah. I don’t have any today.” Sans gave him a lazy smirk, and the taller man looked to make sure all the other customers were content before leaning onto the counter. “S’just work shit. Not important.” _

 

_ “You have an important job, don’t you? Last time you spoke of it you mentioned something about a pretty big project.” _

 

_ “Yeah.” _

 

_ “You wanna tell me about it?” _

 

_ Sans looked up and for a second wondered why the other man was so interested. But hey, he wanted to talk then Sans could talk. Maybe not about the core project, but other things. “Tibia honest, I kinda wanna get away from that right now- not sure I can talk about it anyway. Tell me about business.” _

 

_ The flaming man smiled- hard to see him smile through the fire, but Sans thought he did. For a second Sans wondered how old Grillby was. Thirty? He talked like he was old, had a nice cadence and rumble to his voice.  _

 

_ Sans may have interrupted Grillby going on about the new expansion when he suddenly asked “Say, Grills, how old are you?” _

 

_ “Thirty one,” answered Grillby. “May I ask why?” _

 

_ Shit. He was hoping for a shorter age gap. Still, Sans wasn’t necessarily deterred. “I, uh, well. You’re pretty hot for a guy your age.” _

 

_ The atmosphere froze. Grillby hesitated, he glowed a bit brighter, “Is that some sort of fire joke or are you trying to flirt?” _

 

_ Sans swallowed heavily and hoped the bartender didn’t notice he was sweating. “Both?” _

 

_ “First off, thirty is not in any way old. Maybe when you are young it seems old, but it’s not. Secondly,” he reached below the bar and poured something into a small cup. He then set something amber and clear next to Sans fries. “Some scotch for your efforts, not the fancy kind, mind you. On the house” _

 

_ “Grillby, I, I’m only nineteen. I can’t take that.” _

 

_ Grillby smiled, and Sans was sure he was this time. The way Grillby chuckled made Sans feel like he said something dumb. Sans didn’t feel dumb often.  _

 

_ “You work with the royal scientist on secret projects yet you aren’t old enough to have a drink? I think not. Besides, no one here will tell.” _

 

_ That scotch burned like a bitch but Sans drank every bit of it. He laughed along when Grillby made fun of his expression. “Do skeletons even experience burning? Why do you even eat?” He asked. _

 

_ Sans got that question a lot. “Magic, man.”  _

 

_ Later, when the restaurant was closing and the other customers shuffled out, Grillby asked Sans if he’d like to stay after. There were a lot of unsaid things in that offer, and as tempting as it was, Sans had to refuse.”My little bro’s at home. He’s only twelve, I can’t leave him alone for too long.” _

 

_ When Sans got home, he noticed it was nearly ten. Papyrus was already asleep, curled into his racecar bed holding his favorite story book.  _

...

“Pap, can you open the door?” 

 

“UHHH, BROTHER I’M NOT SURE IF I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS JUST YET.”

 

“Papyrus,  _ please _ .” The door opened slowly. Sans shouldered his way into the room before Papyrus could change his mind. He looked at his little bro- who slowly was becoming not so little anymore. They stood nearly eye to eye now, and though Pap was scrawny and kinda gangly, Sans had no doubt he’d grow up to be much bigger than him. 

 

The room- finally complete with Pap’s long awaited race car bed- was tidier than Sans thought it would be. Everything looked recently dusted too, everything from the photos on the nightstand to the collection of actionfigures displayed proudly on the table. He had hung a skull flag that fell from the human world above that. Sans had to admit it tied the room together. 

 

Walking over to the nightstand, Sans picked up the framed picture. It was of him and Pap, taken not too long ago. A year, maybe, the first day at Sans’ job. It was of him in his new snazzy labcoat with his little brother smiling so wide his jaw could unhinge. Papyrus was giving him bunny ears. Gaster and one of the other workers could only sparsely be made out in the far background. 

 

“I didn’t know you kept this, bro. Framed it and everything.”

 

“SANS...”

 

“Are there others?” He asked while looking for the other pictures littered about the nightstand. 

 

“SANS.”

 

Sans sighed and finally turned around. He shouldn’t put this off any longer.

 

Papyrus was looking at the floor intently, making weird whining sounds like he did when he got hurt. “SANS, IS, IS MR. GRILLBY LIKE MY DAD NOW?”

 

“What? No, no. Why would you-?”

 

“BECAUSE, WELL, YOU’RE KINDA LIKE MY DAD. AND GRILLBY WAS- I’M NOT SURE WHAT HE WAS DOING BUT THAT IS STUFF HUSBANDS AND WIVES DO SO IS HE MY DAD NOW?”

 

Sans held back all but a couple nervous laughs. “Pap, no. No. I’m not even close to your dad, we’re always bro’s okay? Mr. Grillby and I were-”

 

“NO SANS, I THINK I KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING BUT- OR WERE GETTING READY TO DO? I’M NOT COMPLETELY SURE HOW IT WORKS BUT CAN TWO GUYS EVEN DO THAT?” 

 

“Yes, now-”

 

“THEY DIDN’T TEACH THAT IN MY CLASS.”

 

Sans pretended Papyrus didn’t look disgusted right there. He was just a kid, he wouldn't know better. “What class?”

 

“THE SEX ED. CLASS. LAST YEAR. YOU SIGNED PERMISSION FORMS FOR IT.”

 

Sans deadpanned. “Well your class was wrong, two men or two woman can-”

 

“TWO WOMAN? HOW-”

 

“Jesus fucking christ, we’re going over what they taught in your sex ed. class. But please Pap, I need you to keep what you saw me and Mr. Grillby doing private, okay?”

 

“YOU THINK I’D TALK ABOUT THAT TO OTHERS? I WANNA FORGET IT, SANS.”

 

“I’m sorry Pappy. I’ll make it up to you. We can have anything you want for dinner.”

 

Papyrus’ voice dropped. “...Anything? Anything at all? Can we even eat it while we watch some sort of TV?”

 

“You think I’d say no to that?”

 

That night they ate grilled cheese, chocolate milk, and cupcakes. An odd mix, but as Sans sat down on the sofa with Pap and shoved it all in his face he found that he didn’t mind. Papyrus put on some god awful police and crime show but only pretended to be upset when Sans said things like “Hey, what is it called when a chef gets killed?”

 

“Oh why must you do this? The show is just getting to the good part.” Papyrus said, whispering which for his was equal to an inside voice. He shoved part of a grilled cheese threw his teeth.

 

“A recipe for murder.”

 

“Sans.”

 

“It started with just a-salt.”

 

“SANS.” 

 

“Heh heh. In the end, he met his  _ baker _ .”

 

“SANS. I LOVE YOU, BUT PLEASE, I WANT TO SEE WHO DID IT.”

 

Looking over at his younger brother so engrossed in the show, so happy, well fed, he wondered not for the first time what things would’ve been like had he not gotten his job at the lab. They wouldn’t be watching this TV, for one. It was kinda small and many of the pixels were out but Papyrus never complained for they could never have one before. They wouldn’t be in this Snowdin house either, no. They would have to live in The Ruins- the rent was cheaper and they would only afford a small apartment. If Sans hadn’t gotten his lab job, would the two of them even be eating this dinner?

 

“Sans, you look funny. Are you well?”

 

“M’fine, bro.”

 

The TV program went to commercial. “What are you thinking about?”

 

“Just about getting another glass of chocolate milk,” he said like it was natural. “Do you want one?”

...

It was much later that night and Grillby polished the counters as Sans apologized. Grillby, with tense shoulders at first an an air to him that was far too quiet, shrugged at the end and said it wasn’t a big deal. Relief flowed off Sans in waves- a weight left his back that he didn’t even know was there. 

 

“Is your younger brother okay?”

 

“Oh, he’s fine. A bit shocked but other than that okay. Funny thing, actually,” Sans started, giggling a bit. “He was all worried you were going to be Dad, actually. I, I don’t even know why completely, haha, he said-” Sans stopped once he saw that Grillby found no humor in this. 

 

“What did he say? Why would he think this? He’s at least twelve, isn’t he?”

 

Something about that rubbed Sans the wrong way- like something cold scratching the inside of his ribs. “He, uh. He said something along the lines of ‘you guys were doing what parents do’ so uh-”

 

Grillby set the glass down and adjusted his glasses, suddenly more interested. “Does he think of you as his father?”

 

The place was empty, having closed almost an hour ago, but for some reason Sans was beginning to think this would be less awkward if others were here and causing their own ruckus. It was too quiet. “Sometimes I think so- he just doesn’t remember his real old man is all. I’ve been taking care of him a long time. We’re still pretty close in age though, so I had to correct ‘em. And I couldn’t let him think you were his new dad. You shoulda seen how freaked out he was, his bones shaking together so loud I could hear it.”

 

Grillby finally let out a short huff of laughter but that was it. Not for the first time, Sans wondered if the older man thought anything he said was ever funny. 

 

Grillby leaned across the bar briefly and picked a piece of lint of Sans shirt. “Sans is, is Papyrus  _ special _ ?”

 

“What do you mean? Of course he’s special, he’s my little brother.” 

 

Grillby shook his head. “No, I mean is he, does he have some sort of mental handica-”

 

Sans felt his pupils turn into pinpricks. “You’re asking if my brother is retarded, aren’t you?” 

 

“Or something of that level. Retarded isn’t a word I’d use, it’s very outdated-”

 

“Listen Grillby, my brother ain’t shit, alright? He’s normal and actually pretty smart.”

 

The other put his hands up in defense, going on about how he wasn’t trying to start anything, but to Sans it had already been started. Oh. Oh Grillby had struck a nerve there. Sans was sure to let the other man know it but his cellphone exploded out of his pocket with a high pitch, vibrant ringing. Giving the elemental a cross between a sheepish look and a glare, he took the clunky thing out of his pocket.

 

The caller I.D. read that it was from the lab. 

 

“I gotta take this. S’work.”

 

“Work? At eleven o’clock at night?”

 

“Sure is.” Before either of them could give off any smart comments Sans stepped away and answered the phone. Hearing Gaster’s voice, he decided to take the call outside. 

 

Grillby didn’t even wave goodbye.

 

The door swung shut behind him. It was both colder and darker outside than he imagined _. “Sans? I need you to get down here immediately. Consider it an emergency.” _

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet Gaster, gain insight on the core, and Sans wan't to drown in sleeping aids.

It was bad enough he had to leave his kid brother all alone for the night, but it was worse having to rush all the way to fucking Hotland. Sans used shortcuts bigger than he’d ever used before- a dangerous thing, he knew. It drained magic faster that he could speak. The quick temperature changes from the cool waterfall to the steaming hotland did wonders on his bones. Teleporting like this always made his body ache. 

 

Once he finally got to the royal lab, he rushed in without wondering why all the lights were off. If there was an emergency, shouldn’t an alarm be flashing? No. No apparently not. 

 

In the far back he saw the small silhouette of Gaster hunched over a desk in his chair, completely zoned out and engrossed in his work.  The usual, if it had not been midnight. The only light was the desk lamp.

 

Sans, sweating and panting, jogged over to him. “What’s the problem-”

 

Gaster’s head snapped towards him, the white still shiney in the low light. “You’ve been teleporting.”

 

_ No shit. _ “You said there was an emergency. I tried to get here as fast as I could but the ferry doesn’t run this late-”

 

“Yes but I didn’t want you to use teleportation, that hinders you useless for the entire night!”

 

Sans froze. “What do you mean?... Sir?”

 

Gaster’s smile was calm but his voice was excited. “Well, Sans, I had an idea struck just when I was about to head home. I wondered if monster magic could be harnessed and used for short periods of time. I was thinking of collecting it in batteries and seeing if they gain any charge and just going on from there. It seemed like an easy thing to test, no? But I needed a participant. You know don’t have much in the way of magic, and you just happen to be the one in the lab with the greatest magic potency and I called you here. But now, after draining yourself like an idiot, trying to withdraw magic from you know would be dangerous- it could take days for you to come back from the coma it would put you in. I can’t kill my assistants, yes?”

 

Sans wasn’t even sure if that last bit was supposed to be funny.

 

“Why was I needed  _ now? _ ”

 

Gaster made a face- Sans knew that face. That was his lecture face. “Sans, I thought you of all people would be interested in this. You have a home that runs on electric, yes? In Snowdin? The place runs on those three huge generators nearly as old- no, older- than yourself, what would you do if one or more of those generators were to suddenly fail- before the core is up, of course. Wouldn’t this little experiment be in your interest?”

 

“The generators won’t fail before the core is working,” Sans said defensively. though the irritation he was feeling just a few moments ago was slowly dissolving.  

 

Gaster smiled. He loved to prove others wrong, to be right. “Oh they’ve failed before. Been fixed with duct tape so many times, replaced with parts that usually aren’t much better. What if next time it fails, there isn’t anything that can be done?”

 

“The core will be finished by then.”

 

“Yes- yes, we shall hope that the core is finished by then. Say- you look better now. Perhaps I’ll have you try this after all.” The taller man reached to the desk, opened a drawer and pulled out what looked like a triple A battery. 

 

“I tried the little batteries myself, can’t say I got very far. I have faith you’ll do better.”

 

Sans looked at it and cracked one of those tight, uneasy smiles. “What was that about too much magic and a coma, again...?”

 

“Hilarious, Mr. Skeleton. Fear not, I was originally planning to use substantially larger batteries. Seeing as you are somewhat...  _ drained, _ we’ll make due with a small scale test.” He placed the battery in Sans’ waiting hand. It was a human brand, the battery. Sans could only barely tell in the dark that the logo was not one that matched with the lab. Closing his fist around it, he breathed for a moment and concentrated. His eyes grew vibrant blue, he felt the cool, luring sense of magic float up his spine. It was a week feeling- he wasn’t _ fully charged _ right now, not after rushing over here like this. 

 

Then he concentrated on the battery in his hand, and waited. “Now- now what, sir?”

 

“I’m not sure. I hadn’t gotten farther than that either.”

 

Sans bit back a harsh comment asking why Gaster thought he would get any farther.

 

Gaster moved in, leaning over to give himself a better look at Sans himself. “Hmm. No luck?”

 

Sans felt his magic level shrink, though he was sure it was in no way being absorbed by the battery. “I, I can’t figure it out.” He tried to hand the battery back, but the scientist wouldn’t take it.

 

“Keep it, see if you can figure it out later. Keep trying.”

 

He slipped it into his pocket, the Dr. turned back to his desk, suddenly uninterested with Sans very existence. 

 

“Dr. Gaster, sir?”

 

“Yes, Mr. Skeleton?”

 

Paying no attention to the nickname, Sans carefully asked. “Why are you so interested in things powered by magic if the core is supposed to reach completion in just a few months?”

 

The look on Gasters face, stretched by shadows, let Sans know what he feared. “Well, keep this to yourself, considered it classified, but... If the core doesn’t work or- no, that's not what I’m worried about. We’ll get it to work, I’m sure of it, but for how long? What I’m worried about it falure shortly after completion. What if it only last a few years?”

 

Sans was silent. Until now, Gaster had only ever spoke confidently about his project, his opus, but now, seeing the fear on his face as he talked about it was completely foreign.

For once Sans wished he could stop smiling. “Why do you think if could fail?”

 

“Because, Sans.” He sunk his head into his hands and leaned on the desk, his body resembling a question mark. “This hasn’t been done before. Wires running from here all the way to Snowdin? To Waterfall? To every. House? Sounds like electrical fires waiting to happen. What would we do if a wire snapped and all the water in Waterfall was to be suddenly electrocuted? What would we do if the core simply won’t handle the strain of every house in the capital at once?”

 

“In every plan, every diagram, every paper you’ve written about the core project you’ve never ever said it wouldn’t work-”

 

“Of course not what would the king think if I said ‘I have an idea that this might blow up in our faces?!’” 

 

Sans snapped. They had been working with this for months, everyone in the lab, everyone had been putting one hundred and ten fucking percent and now he thinks it will probably fail? The core was as much Gaster’s hope and dream as it was everyone else. “Why are we doing this if it’s dangerous enough to kill people!? You’re talking like the risks are higher than-”

 

“We’re doing this because the generators are all on the brink of failing, Mr. Sans Skeleton, every one of them has lasted far past their expiration dates. We’re doing this in hope that we don’t all spiral back into the dark ages where monsters used crystals for lights!”

 

“All of them...? Even, even in the castle, the capital? The ones in Snowdin haven’t-”

 

“All of them, Sans. Every single one of them. The one powering the lab right now is working at forty five percent efficiency, even.”

 

“Why don’t we just fix the generators?” Sasn asked quietly. 

 

“There aren’t parts for it. We can’t just wait at the trash dump for new parts to fall, can we? We can hardly wait for pliable materials to fall either. We might as well hope for an entire generator to fall into the underground.”

 

“I... I can’t believe it, I...”

 

“Hmm. Yes. Don’t believe me? Come look at the one we have working for the lab.”

 

Silently, Sans followed Gaster’s brisk footsteps as he took him downstairs, flipping a light switch here and there. The place looked so different in the dark, so sinister. Like a different world. Sans could hardly look up from his shoes.

 

The door to the maintenance room opened. Gaster turned on the light to reveal a large, box shaped thing about the size of a car (Sans only knew that because of the human shows he watched with Pap). It was making a whirring sound, like a dying bird. 

 

“This is it, Sans. I built this out of what I could so many years ago- not long after we first became trapped down here.” He was shouting over the noise. “Take a look at it.”

 

Slowly, Sans did so. He took a few steps forward and listened to it roar. The inside was spinning unevenly. The tubes leading from the machine were patched and bent, the valves on it were all set on the highest setting and the lights in the sensors were all red.

 

“It’s dying. They all are. How many times can we just ‘fix them’ again, Sans, how many times can we will these machines to work?”

 

Sans breath constricted. slowly, he turned back to the Dr. “So, there isn’t much of choice other than the core, huh?”

 

He wasn’t sure how Gaster heard him over the generator’s stress. “I’m afraid not.”

 

“Well. Then we just gotta make sure it won’t fail then.” He was determined to make the core work- they both were.

 

...

 

_ Gaster’s expression was like stone. “Yes, Mr. Skeleton. Why do you think you should be hired?” _

 

_ “Sans is fine sir, Skeleton isn’t actually in the name-” _

 

_ “Answer the question.” _

 

_ Sans wasted no time, with a spine stiff like a souldiers and with as much confidence as he could muster, he went on. “I think I should be hired because I can be of benefit to the lab.” _

 

_ Gaster looked cynical. “Yes? How so.”  _

 

_ “I work well with people, at, at the school I studded magic philosophy and physics, and you don’t have a physicist working at the lab.” _

 

_ “Yes, you don’t look it but you have the qualifications, but that's not what I’m asking for. I could wait another year or two and find someone with the exact same qualifications as you. What I’m asking is why I should hire you now? Why do you deserve this job?” _

 

_ Sans blinked at him. God, the doctor was nothing like what he thought. He was taller, for one. He was thin like a razor and just as sharp, his skull polished stark white and his jawbones jutted out. Part of Sans was kinda excited to finally meet another skeleton, another part of his was terrified. When he read Gaster’s papers he never thought they could be written by such an intimidating guy. In his papers he sounded damn emotional, but looking at him now, it was hard to believe. _

 

_ ‘He still might be emotional for all you know,’ Sans thought. ‘Try and appeal to that.’  _

 

_ “I don’t deserve this job,” Sans started slowly. “But my brother does. Papyrus. He just turned eleven, good kid. No, great kid. I wanna support him better, he, ah. He want to be a royal guard. I want to send him to the academy- get him a good education at least..” _

 

_ Gaster was looking at him funny, looking up and down him for a second. He was studying Sans’ clothes, he realized. His shoes were patched with duct tape and his pants were cleary ripped and resown with mismatching thread here and there. Well, sans had to admit, he dressed better than usual for the occasion but perhaps he still looked kinda poor.  It seemed like Gaster reached that consensus too. “You’re just a kid yourself, aren’t you?” _

 

_ “Eighteen, sir.” _

 

_ He drummed his fingers on the clipboard. “And you and your brother are alone?” _

 

_ “Yes sir. Been like that for years. ” Sans was trying not to giggle. Did, did he just buy that? Would that sob story really work?  _

 

_ Gaster then pretended to think about it real hard, “Hmm. Well. You meet the standards, I suppose. Alight Mr. Sans Skeleton, consider yourself third assistant.” _

 

_ Sans grin was genuine when he shook Dr. Gaster’s hand, rushing out thank you’s. Gaster was smiling too.  _

 

_ Sans wasn’t third assistant for long. One got sick, the other got fired. Within just a few months, Sans found himself working for the esteemed W. D. Gaster himself.  _

 

...

 

The light shining through the window should’ve been a hint but Sans hardly noticed it. It was a bit of a walk back-he was tired. Frankly he wanted nothing more than to take a few melatonin- or hell, chug a bottle of nyquil- and sleep some of the stress off. 

 

He opened the front door slowly, making sure to be as silent as possible. He didn’t want to wake Pap up- the kid was terrible with no sleep. Whenever Papyrus stayed up too late he whined and bitched about everything the next day, but Sans supposed that was a normal kid thing. They need nine or so hours a sleep for a reason. 

 

But upon stepping in the house, it became apparent that Papyrus wasn’t asleep yet. 

 

“Papyrus the hell you still doing up? It’s like three!” 

 

Papyrus rubbed at his eye socket as he leaned against the kitchen’s entrance, facing the front room. A blanket was wrapped around his shoulders. He didn’t bother with a shirt, opting to just show his ribs, but at least wore pajama pants. 

 

“Sans? You never c-came home last night. You- you weren’t at Grillby’s. I went over there and it was closed.” His brother was talking quietly and with poor dictation- a rare occurrence nowadays.

 

Sans smile shrank as much as it could. “I- I was at work buddy. You didn’t need to wait for me-”

 

“Why? Do you work at night now?”

 

Sans shrugged, “Lab emergency.” An emergency it was too. Sans had half a mind to sleep in tomorrow and miss work- Gaster wouldn’t fire him this far in. Probably. “Don’t worry about it, it’s solved now.”

 

Sans’ brother looked surprisingly expressionless. 

 

“Everything alright now, Pap?”

 

“I don’t know, Sans. Is everything alright?”

 

 _‘I’m working on a deathtrap and we’re on the brink of total power failure.’ “_ Yeah, buddy. Head up to bed, will you? You’re still going to school tomorrow. Don’t try and convince me you’re to tired in the morning either, or I’ll have a _bone_ to pick with you.” He pulled his brother into a one armed hug- Sans specialty, full hugs were too much work- and clacked his teeth against the younger’s forehead. “Goodnight.” He could only hope the exhaustion in his voice wasn't as noticeable in Papyrus' ears as it was in his own.

 

Slowly, Papyrus departed and trudged away like he was walking through thick snow. He hesitated going upstairs, stopping every few steps. “SANS?” Sans waited for a question that never came. “... GOODNIGHT, I GUESS.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully you guys like this? Thanks for reading anyway. I'm kinda unsure about this one so could you guys tell me what you think?

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully you guys found some of this kinda funny at least. Drama will come, but meanwhile, can you tell me what you think?


End file.
